Building a bridge of faith between the C4 family in Hawaii & the Children's Homes in Mussoorie, India.
The ministry was started in 1998 as part of a Division of Foreign Mission of the Assemblies of God. The primary areas of focus are the Firs Boy's Home in Mussoorie; the Salvation House Girl's Home and the House of Life Boys' Home in Bhanwala (near Dehradun); and the Himalayan Training/Discipleship Center in Mussoorie.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Greetings From Oregon!!

Hi all!Just got back from a wonderful visit with my parents in Corvallis, Oregon. I wanted to share with you all the above pictures:

1) First picture is myself with Karen Bell. She was going to be the mission leader to Mussoorie, but they were not able to raise the funds. She was extremely disappointed that they had to cancel their mission. But now she's so happy and realizes that God's hand was orchestrating EVERYTHING. NHDH picked up the mission and took it from there. She acknowledges that they would not have been able to commit long term as NHDH has. She asked me to say hello to all of you.

2) Second picture is the church that Karen, as well as my parents go to. It's called King's Circle Assembly of God, in Corvallis, Oregon.

While there I shared my photo album that Yumi/Ellen gave me of all of you. They all enjoyed the pictures. Karen was so touched that her name was on one of the papers that the children held up showing all our names.

Hope all of you are doing great. It must be COLD huh? It was 25-40 degrees while in Oregon.

Relevant Links

Purpose of this blog

The purpose of this blog is to facilitate and celebrate His faithfulness as He builds this bridge of faith between the hearts of our community here in Hawaii and Mussoorie, India. That we would be one church under the authority and grace of Jesus Christ.

That He would grow a sincere love between our communities despite the time and distance barriers. Where we would be brothers and sisters, sharing with one another in need, of one accord, practicing hospitality.

We would want this blog to be a resource for all of our upcoming initiatives in building this bridge of faith. (For example, in the setting up of future mission trips, praise reports, the children's devotions, the success and failures of our self sustaining initiatives, and prayer requests.)

We pray that as we seek His favor, He will give us favor in our respective communities.

Mussoorie Facts

Approx. 10 hours by car from Delhi, 6 hours by train and 1 hour by air.

Abundant wildlife, including monkeys, birds, and jackals

Beautiful, cool and breathtaking views of the sunrise and sunsets

Mussoorie is a resort town and is surrounded by academic institutions and a government training center

7500 ft elevation in the foothills of the Himalayans

Mussoorie Time

Mussoorie

People who follow the blog (Mussoorie Bridge Builders!)

India Facts

80% are Hindu, 14% are Muslims

Less than 3% Christians

Independence from Britian in 1947

National Capital is New Delhi and 28 states

21 Official Languages, primarily Hindi and English

Largest Democracy in the World

7th Largest Country with 1.252 billion people

The True Story of the Beginning of the Boys Home at The Firs

About twenty years ago an eight-year-old boy was taken by his father to a village some distance from his own. His mother had left home the week before because her husband never gave a thought to their four children. So after the mother left, the boy's father took his two sisters and older brother, one at a time, to a village and left them. The young boy never understood where they were all going.

On this particular morning, the father told the boy that he would be going with him to a different village. The boy was excited to get to go with his father. When they reached the village, the father stopped near a shop and talked to the owner then gave him some money. The father told the boy to stay there, then disappeared. They boy was frightened and wanted to go to the father, but a stronger boy got hold of him and said that he now belonged to the shopkeeper. The man brought the boy to his home, and he was given a place to sleep in the grass behind the cows and was given spoiled leftover food to eat. He was the new slave of the household, and they gave him a list of things to do. When the boy forgot anything on the list, they beat him mercilessly.

Well, the young boy failed to meet their expectations. So not long after, he was thrown out of the house. He wandered down the road, not knowing where it would lead. After a few hours, he found an old, rotting tent with two men inside, who turned out to be robbers. He was surprised when he saw them eating rats. They were very hungry. Two more men joined them. After some time, they got very angry and even thought about killing the boy to feed themselves. The boy started crying and pleaded for his life. Finally they let him go. So the boy ran and ran and ran, not knowing where to go.

Four days later, he ended up in the jungle but found nothing to eat but leaves. Eventually, he came upon a house, and a lady came out and took him in. The boy stayed there and took care of her herds.

A few weeks later, the boy saw some foreigners walking by, so he ran to ask for some biscuits and chocolates, because that's what the other boys used to always do. They saw this boy and felt God's mercy on him. The lady said that if they wanted, they could take the boy along with them.

This boy's name was Bablu, and those foreigners were Joe and Prakash, and this was the beginning of the children's home at Mussoorie, India!